WHy Western Studies?

Cultural critics are rightly concerned that we are declining as a civilization in the West. Once Western civilization imagined and created universities, hospitals, cathedrals, great art and music, all through the thoughtful combination of Greek and Christian thought that formed the basis for Western Reason (exemplified in the writings of Augustine and Aquinas). Today, while we may sustain the outward appearance of these institutions, our culture has lost the general Christian convictions it once held, and the result is that these institutions are becoming hollowed-out and confused. Universities teach there is not truth, hospitals practice abortion, great cathedrals house more tourists than worshippers, fine art has gone from public significance to private museums, and we no longer believe there is a connection between faith and reason.

We are living on borrowed capital from that earlier age of faith, and many historians and cultural critics are predicting that the West as a civilization is lost.

While none would want to go back to a world of plagues, feudal warfare and bad plumbing (which is still the way of life in many other parts of the world), we would like to regain and retain anything that past generations have accomplished that could be called truly timeless, and we want to find ways to apply those ideas to human life in our own day.